Workwear brand Carhartt is expanding its resale program to accept trade-ins at 35 of its retail locations and will begin accepting items by mail later this year, the company announced Wednesday.
The program, called Carhartt Reworked, began as a pilot in six of its in-store locations in partnership with Trove, a resale platform that has also partnered with Canada Goose, Lululemon and others.
Workwear and outdoor brands have recently lent themselves to resale efforts. Timberland also launched an in-house resale program called Timberloop, and other Trove resale partners include Patagonia and REI. Launching resale through collaborations with Trove and competitor platforms such as Thredup can allow brands to take control of their resale efforts, as opposed to allowing used product to be distributed through peer-to-peer resale platforms such as Poshmark and Ebay.
"We are thrilled to power Carhartt Reworked's nationwide trade-in expansion," Gayle Tait, Trove CEO, said in the release. "It's a testament to Carhartt's enduring workwear and the Carhartt community's passion for extending the life of hardworking products and reducing waste."
Carthartt Reworked’s stated goal is to extend the life of workwear and reduce clothing waste. Since the pilot’s launch in March, the program has extended the life of 9,000 garments and kept more than 40,000 products out of landfills, per the release.
"We are encouraged by the positive support and feedback the program has received over the first three months, and we are excited to expand it so more hardworking people can get their hands on gear that is not done working," Gretchen Valade, director of sustainability at Carhartt, said in the release. "With the help of Trove, the expansion reinforces our commitment of building a better world through reducing our environmental impact and keeping countless Carhartt garments out of landfills."
Products accepted into the Reworked program must meet condition standards and have been sold by Carhartt within the last 10 years for at least $50. Customers who wish to exchange eligible items receive a digital Carhartt gift card. Materials not eligible are “recycled or donated to keep fabric out of landfills,” per the company.
The items that go up for resale are cleaned, or repaired if necessary, before being made available to the public.
The resale program builds on some of Carhartt’s other sustainability initiatives, including the reduction of paper and plastic in their packaging and a repair program for certain Carhartt items.
